Currently, various applications over Internet protocol (IP), for example, IP television (IPTV) and voice over IP (VoIP), are quickly developed, and will increasingly replace private network applications such as cable TV and Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) telephone services. Certain configuration needs to be made to enable the IP application terminals to use various applications over IP, for example, an IP address or a Universal Resource Locator (URL) of an application server need to be configured, and a protocol used by the application server needs to be configured.
So far, a mature solution for a 0-configuration of the application terminals does not exist. When a user uses an application terminal after powering on the terminal for the first time, the application terminal can be connected to a network normally only after the user manually configures many parameters, for example, the IP address, a central office server address, a user name, and a password, resulting in unfavorable experience of the user.
If operators/service providers (SPs) manually configure each application terminal, a huge cost is brought to the operators/SPs. Therefore, it is a problem to be solved to realize an auto-configuration on the application terminals.
In the related art, the terminal declares to a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server that the terminal supports a certain management protocol, for example, TR09, through a DHCP protocol. Then, according to information received from the DHCP server, the terminal sets a URL of an automatic configuration server (ACS) of customer premise equipment (CPE, for example, a home gateway) connected to the terminal. Then, the terminal initiates a connection to the ACS, and obtains a configuration file through the management protocol, for example, the TR09 protocol, thereby realizing the auto-configuration.
However, during a process for implementing the present invention, the inventors find that the application terminal in a home network must access to the Internet through the home gateway including the DHCP server. However, the existing home gateway cannot forward a DHCP message of the application terminal, so a DHCP message sent by the application terminal cannot reach the Internet. Therefore, the method of obtaining the ACS URL by the terminal through a DHCP protocol in the related art is not applicable to the application terminal in the home network managed by the home gateway.